This invention relates generally to automatic material packaging and more particularly to a novel method of packaging a predetermined quantity of material in flexible film and to the package resulting therefrom having a one piece structure providing a material enclosure and a handle portion.
In the past, it has been well known to manufacture flexible bags and then at a later stage to fill them with the desired materials or goods. This method or system has the disadvantage of being inefficient in that the two steps of manufacturing the bags and then filling them are separate and therefore necessarily involve the problems of packaging, transporting and opening the bags between the two stages. Furthermore, difficulties have been encountered with sealing the filled bags and also with economically providing suitable carrying means.
More recently, it has been attempted to overcome some of these disadvantages by using form fill methods of packaging a variety of products. However, these have still been found to have the disadvantages of having to utilize unsatisfactory methods and relatively costly film to provide packages of sufficient strength with satisfactory carrying means.
In the present invention, the disadvantages of separate bag manufacturing and filling operations have been avoided and at the same time has been found possible to significantly reduce film costs in providing a package with reduced malfunctions in the packaging operation as well as in the resulting package.